Idols to Watch in 2018 – Pikarin Shiina

What makes Shiina tick? Just to set the scene a little, Pikarin’s first official single was named “Makai Shinjū”, which translates to “Devil (or land of the devil) Double Suicide (心中)”.

So, who is Pikarin?

Hailing from Chiba, Hikari Shiina is a professional model, frequently appearing in magazines like “Popteen”. She’s a performer, actress and idol who has been on the scene since 2012. Apart from this, she’s also extremely skilled with makeup and has done a number of makeup tutorials – you can check them out on youtube. Shiina is a self confessed otaku, and a reasonably hardcore one at that.

Taking the stage name Pikarin, and describing herself as a devil idol who is 20,000 years old, she’s a soloist but generally performs with her entourage of two on stage. Pikarin is brilliant at image creation and self promotion, you’d be hard pressed to find a song in which she doesn’t mention “Pikarin” or “Makai”.

Shiina has appeared in collaboration songs before, and her music has always been quirky and included many cute-horror elements. It seems, though, she has found her heart in Pikarin – or should we say in “Makai”. She’s stepped it up a notch with a heavier sound, more distorted screaming vocals, and “lovingly” brutal lyrics.

“I wanna die with you and make you drink my blood”.

Pikarin’s sound can be as chameleon-like as her personality and appearance. Some of her earlier releases have a sweet, cute sound with quirky undertones, up beat music and higher pitched synths. Recently, her sound has matured and gained depth resulting in a heavier sound, stronger, pronounced guitars and certainly more screaming and distortion, but still with an undeniably quirky and cute undertone. Shiina seems to be solidifying the Pikarin ‘character’ with this sound and growing into a strong performer with a more focused direction. Pikarin’s unique approach has separated her from other idol metal bands and has allowed her to gain a massively dedicated following.

Now aged 23, she had a few big releases last year, including bababa-babaumuku-hen and geboku gebu gebu. She also appeared on E-Ticket Rap Show with a hot as hell track “Fire Liar”. 2017 was a big year for Pikarin.

Being a devil, Shiina Pikarin does not hold back when it comes to live shows. She’s a big fan of the megaphone and recorder. Her shows quite often involve walking across the back of her fans, biting them hard enough to leave marks, spitting drinks over them, breaking stuff, and on at least one occasion that we’ve witnessed, shoving newly purchased ice-cream in their face. None of this seems to deter them, and she’s continually gaining more and more fans and whipping them into a frenzy. This is the beauty of Pikarin – remaining cute whilst behaving like someone who is borderline psychotic. Again, she is a devil, after all.

So, why is she one to watch in 2018? Pikarin has steadily been gaining more support and solidifying her sound over the last few years. 2017 saw a few stellar releases, including E-Ticket Rap Show, which featured a number of other semi-high profile Idols (Including Nemoto Nagi from Niji no Conquistador and Dempagumi inc. and Younappi from Yurumerumo).

We’re sure that there are tonnes of fans out there willing to let her eat their eyeballs.